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P. ROOSEVELT ORGAN.

No. 449,177. Patented Mar. 31,1891.

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No. 449,177. Patented Mar.31,1891.

724444 IIVVE/VTOR WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES I PATENT 'FFIICE FRANK ROOSEVELT, OF Nl HV YORK, N. Y.

ORGAN.

EPEOIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,177, dated March 31, 1891.

Application filed October 5,1889.

To (LZZ when], it rim concern..-

Be it known that I, FRANK Roosnvnn'r, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ()rgaus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates, generally, to a class of organs in which sound is produced by the play upon or within resonant pipes of air under pressure, and which are therefore known as pipe organs, and it relates, specifically, to the action or mechanism through which impulses or motions imparted to the keys are transmitted to the valves immediately controlling the operation of the pipes.

As is generally recognized, organ actions as heretofore constructed havebeen complicated, cumbersome, and subject to the influence of atmospheric conditions, and have, therefore, at all times been more or less uncertain or variable in operation. It is the object of my invention to provide an action for a pipe organ which,overcoming these objections,shall be simple and compact in construction and uniform and certain in action.

In the accompanying drawings is illustrated and herein described, a preferred form of a convenient embodiment of my inventiou,the particular subject matter claimed as novel being hereinafter definitely specified.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation, fragmentary and partially diagrammatic, of the portion of an organ to which my invention relates, illustrating the relative arrangement of keys and pipes, and indicating the lines followed by the aid channels,a part of the front easing being supposed removed. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same portion of an organ,illustrating, however, the

usual roller board arrangement by which in conjunction with the customary levers, stickers, and trackers, the pallet levers when in the posit-ion in whichthcy are usuallylocated, are operated. Fig. 3 is a central, vertical, transverse section, taken on the line at a: of Fig. l, (the coupling piece, however, being fragmentary) illustrating the details of the great organ wind chest, a key of the greatergan manual, and the channel boards and mechanical action by means of which said key controls said wind. chest. Fig. t is a central,

Serial No. 326,119. (No model.)

vertical, transverse section, taken on theline U i/ of Fig. 2, and similarly illustrating the old form of action. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of the wind chest and key scale channel boards. Fig. (5 is a perspective view of a roller provided with arms, and a series of which it is usual to mount upon the roller board.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The devices shown in Figs. 2, i, and (3 being, as stated, of a well known character, are simply introduced to illustrate what is old in the construction of this portion of this type of organ, and, therefore, the more clearly to exhibit, by contrast, the features of improvement shown in the other iigures in which my invention resides. Referring then briefly to said Figs. 2, a, and (3, A is the wind chest of the great organ. This wind chest is represented as constructed to embody certain improvements forming the subject matter of United States Letters Patent No. 323,929, granted August- 1885, to llilborne L. Roosevelt and Charles S. Haskell, to which Letters Patent reference is to be made for a better understanding of their construction.

a are the wind chambers, which extend longitudinally through said wind chests, and are formed between the partition bars a P are the pipes, and p the pipe ducts which lead from out said wind chambers to said pipes.

O is the pallet box which is in communication with the wind supply by means of a wind trunk (not shown) and through the bottom of which extend to the outer atmosphere valve throats (Z, which are, midway of their depth, in communication with wind ducts, herein termed valve ways cl, formed in the bottom board D of the wind chest, from which valve ways lead the wind ways (Z which vent within the pneumaticbellows E secured within the wind chambers.

F are the puppet valves, or disk pallets as they are sometimes termed, which control the orifices of the valve threats (1, and the valve stems or palletwires f of which are tCll entered in one of a series of levers G, secured in suitable hangers 9 attached conveniently to the under face of the bottom board, and held, by means of springs 5 in such position that the pallets are normally held against the exit orifices of the valve throats (Z. A tracker, H,of which the number employed correspondsto the number of pal lets, is secured to each lever G, and, extending down ward,is in turn secured to a projecting arm secured rigidly to and turning with a roller or rod I, mounted free for partial rotation upon the roller hoard I At another portion of the rod I and in such position as to be opposite to the key of the manual which controls the pipe or pipes in connection with which a given tracker H and puppet valve F are mounted, a second arm, is rigidly secured to and projects from it, and to said arm is secured a tracker J, traction upon which, of course, rotates the rod I. and draws down ward the pallet with which it is connected, so that. as will be apparent, each rod and its two arms acts as a bell crank lever, the lateral prolongation of which brings one of its arms and connected tracker J in convenient position to be operated upon by a sticker and tracker in line with a key of the manual.

- In is a suitable pivoted bell crank lever, to one arm of which the lower end of the tracker J is attached, and to the other of which a tracker K is attached, the front end of which latter tracker is secured to one arm of a second bell crank lever, to the second arm of which is connected the upper end of a sticker, q, connected with and actuated by a key Q of the manual. A train of stickers levers and trackers, extending from a key to a pallet constitutes and is herein termed, a mechanical connection between said devices.

Each of the wind chambers a of the wind chest is, by means of suitable pallets and in the usual manner, in controllable communication with a wind trunk and organ bellows, there being no communication between the pallet box and the wind chambers. The pipe ducts p andthe wind ways 61 are, as shown in the Letters Patent referred to, by pairs in vertical alignment, and a pneumatic E, normally distended by means of asuitable spring, not shown, is secured to a partition bar betweenthe members ofeach pair. Each pneir matic has one board embodying an aperture which is fixed over the end of'a wind way (I and one board which is movable, to which is secured an arm terminatingin a disk adapted when the pneumatic is distended tobe swung against and close a pipe duct 1), and when the pneumatic is collapsed to be swung by the movement of said movable board away from said duct.

In a position of rest the various operative instrumentalities of or connected with the wind chest are in the positions represented in Fig. 4, that is to say, the puppet valves seated against the lower openings of their throats,

corresponding puppet valve, shuts off the wind from the connected valve way and gives the lead to the exhaust from out said valve-- way, thereby permitting the collapse of the connected pneumatics under the pressure of the Wind at the time existing in they wind chambers and the removal of the disks from the pipeducts, and causingthe pipes to speak. The relief of pressure upon said key occasions the rise of theyalve stem and puppet valve with which said key communicates, and permits of theiuflux of wind from the pallet box to the valve wav, and thence through the wind ways of said valve way to the pneumatic bellows which are in communication, with said valve way, with the result that the equilibrium of wind pressure thus established permits the springs to expand said bellows.

Referring now to the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 3, it will be observed that while the wind chest in the construction tuere shown is maintained in its usual position, its pallet box is removed from it and located at a point adjacent to the manual, and that, notwithstanding the separation effected between said pallet box and the wind chest the pneumatic communication between their respective interiors is by means of interposed channels preserved. It will also be seen that by the removal of the pallet box to a position nearer to the manual,the mechanical action, that is the system of trackers and stickers, are correspondingly simplified or shortened, the effect of the new positioning of the pallet box, and the provision of channels between it and the wind chest, being a proportionate substitution of a pneumatic for amechanical action. It will moreover be perceived, and in connection with the following description be understood, that in an instrument organized to embody my present improvements, the series of channels which lead from the wind chest, which latter is of the full length of the organ, to the pallet box, gradually converge, and that this convergence enables me to employ a pallet box of length not exceeding that of an organ manual with the advantageous result that each disk pallet is directly in front of its key,or, in other words,

bodies a series of conduits or ducts Z corresponding in number with the valve ways 01', which, opening through the top edge of the board, one conveniently opposite each of said valve ways, extend downward to and termihate in a region of said board opposite to and in length co-extensive with the manual. Thetwo end channels of the board conveniently extend from its top downwardly to near its bottom edge, and then, making a more or less sharp turn, extend toward the longitudinal center of the board,-the two next to the ends following corresponding paths, and so on, for a selected number of channels at each end, for a reason hereinafter explained. The upper edge of the board L is flush with the upper surface of the bottom board D of the wind chest. The valve ways (Z at their front ends open through the upper face of said board D, and said valve ways are to be placed in communication with the channels. This I conveniently accomplish by means of a coupling piece M, which is superimposed upon the upper end of the board L and upper surface of the board D, and is provided with a series of independent curved transverse ports on, each of which is in registry as to its one end with a valve way (Z and as to its other end with a channel Z. The coupling piece is a device of convenience merely, and it is obvious that the valve ways could, if desired, be made to open through the under face of the board D, and that the board L could be positioned thereunder so as to bring its channels Z in registry with said valve ways. To the front of the channel board just described, and opposite to the key board or manual, is secured what I term the key scale channel board, N, it. being in height about the same as the wind chest channel board L, and in length about coextensive with the manual. This key scale channel board N embodies a number of vertical channels or ducts, n, which are closed at their upper ends, and are in number equal to the keys in the great organ manual, to each of which keys one of said channels appertains. The individual channels a open into and form continuations of the individual channels Z, that is to say each channel a at the point where it intersects or crosses its corresponding or supplemental channel Z, is placed in communication therewith by an aperture a Figs. 3 and 5, through the two adjacent faces of the boards L and N. The channel boards L and N are formed as convenience of manufacture may dictate; each, for instance, may be formed by cutting into the face of a plank of suitable size a number of grooves of sufficient depth, and by then superimposing thereupon a covering or facing board. The pallet box 0, shown particularly in Fig. 3, is formed at the lower end of the board N and in front thereof, so that said board constitutes the rear wall of said box, which is provided with aseries of valve throats (Z as hereinbeforc mentioned, into which throats the channels a open in the same manner as do the valve ways d in the ordinary form of channel box as shown in Fig. at and hereinbefore described. The lower ends of the valve stems f, in the arrangement shown in Fig. 3, are attached to the inner ends of levers O, mounted upon supports 0*,and influenced by springs 0; while to the front ends of said levers are attached stickers It the lower ends of which are connected with the keys of the manual.

In the foregoing construction the air pumped into the pallet box exists within and fills said box, the channels n,channels Z, ports on, valve-ways (Z, and pneumatics E,-tends to maintain the pneumatics normally distended,and co-operates with the compressed air fed into the wind chambers to cause the pipes to speak, all of which will be understood from the previous description of the wind chest, if it be simply borne in mind that a channel a which a given pallet controls, is simply acontinuation of a single channel Z with which it is in communication, that each channelZ is by means of a port at in communication with but a single valve way (Z, and, therefore, that the opening or closing of a pallet at the lower end of a channel a has precisely the same effeet as its opening or closing when the pallet box in which it is mounted is an integral part of the wind box. A certain number of keys at the left hand end of the manual usually control a corresponding number of pipes, some of which exist at each end of the organ,-the end key controlling the first pipe at the one end, the second key the first pipe at the opposite end, the third key the second pipe at the first mentioned end, and so on altcrnately,and it is in order to effect the nec essary overlapping, so to speak, as shown in Fig. 1, and at the same time to avoid conflict between, the channels, Z, that the channels connected with the set of keys at the left hand end of the manual are caused to approach each other in horizontal directions. The remainder of the pipes in the central portion of the series are each connected scrz'atum. with the remainder of the keys, and the channelsZ connected with said last named keys may be formed as straight grooves each possessing the required degree of obliquity. In practice there is much more space left for the remaining channels Z than would appear from the drawings of this application, for the reason that for the sake of better illustration, the actions shown in Fig. 3, (and which would in practice be concentrated in the lower left hand portion of the board N) have been magnitied.

Although I herein illustrate and describe my improvements as applied simply to the great organ wind chest, it is apparent that they are capable of application and employmentin connection with wind chests other than that of the great organ, and that, the principle, and a good embodiment of the same, being herein exhibited and described in connection with said great organ, its construction and application in connection with other wind chests is simply a matter of slightly modified duplication, within the powers of a skilled constructor. It is also apparent that it is optional with the constructor whether, in connection with a single wind chest such as the great organ, he shall employ a single wind chest channel board, or whether he shall form the aggregate number of channels appertaining to a wind chest channel board partly in each of two or more of such boards, and also optional whether he shall employ a single key scale channel board or form the aggregate number of channels appertaining to a key scale channel board partly in each of two or more of such boards.

In an application for United States Letters Patent executed contemporaneously with this by me jointly with \Villiam N. Elbert, of Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, and filed in the United States Patent Office upon October 5, 1889 as Serial No. 326,118 is shown and described a construction of organ in which the pallet box of a wind chest, although removed from the wind chest and located at a point remote therefrom and adjacent to the manual, is maintained in communication therewith and forms a continuation thereof. In connection with the construction shown and described in said application, a roller board in some form or other would still be necessary. My present invention develops to a further extent the underlying principle of said joint invention and provides means whereby the series of channels which therein constitute the continuations of wind chest valve ways may be compacted and the employment of the roller board contrivan ce obviated. The present improvements, therefore, it is to be understood, may be employed in connection with the improvementsforming the subject of the said joint application.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim: 7 r I p v 1. In a pipe organ, in combination with a wind chest embodying valve ways,a pallet box of width inferior to the wind chest existing as a separate structure remote from said chest and provided with valve throats,a wind chest channel board embodying a series of channels converging toward its central portion and as to their upper ends in communication with the aforesaid valve ways,a key scale channel board embodying another series of channels each opening into one of the channels of the wind chest channel board and also into one of the valve throats,a series of puppet valves,manual keys,and mechanical connections .between' said keys and valves,- substantially as set forth. I

2. In combination with the wind chest, the pallet box, the wind chest channel board, the key scale channel board, the coupling piece, the puppet valves, and the manual keys connected with said valves, substantially as set forth. I

In testimony that Iclaim the foregoing as my invention I have hereunto signed my name this 2d day of October 1889.

FRANK ROOSEVELT. In presence of J. BONSALL TAYLOR, WM. 0. STR WBRIDGE. 

